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The previously unbloody Sacrifice of the Altar

There has been a spate of recent stories which made me wish I had the faculty of bi- or trilocation, because I wanted to see what was actually going on and get a sense of the personalities involved. One involved the priest in Houston who was sent on leave after suddenly reverting to the traditional Mass at all three of his parish Sunday Masses. From the point of view of pastoral prudence, it's hard to imagine that this was a good idea. But a good friend of mine studied canon law under this priest in the seminary, thinks very highly of him as a balanced, sensible person... and I'm left thinking that it would be good to know firsthand just what the truth of that situation is.

Here is yet another such story. It's hard to know what to make of this description of the situation. I find myself hoping that the reporter made up the quotes.

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The Pius X Society is working on a new church in my area. I predict that about half of the PRACTICING Catholics will join it. They have had enough of hootenanny "masses" and homilies filled with drivel and empty-headed "jokes." Priests were once ordained to TEACH, govern, & sanctify. The middle generation needs to go back to school and learn the meaning of "teach." It's not at all the same as entertain or brain-wash !

Posted by: -
Jul. 28, 2003 11:04 AM ET USA

How refreshing to see the aging Left having to switch parishes because the priest is too loyal. I'm not a regular NYTimes reader, but I doubt there has ever been a story about the thousands of times loyal Catholics have had to flee a parish because the half-Catholics had won their way with the pastor. The demons will screech and wail, but I hope this new generation of priests has the backbone to do this a lot more often.

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